HC dismisses petition against Rahman, Mittal

The Madras High Court today dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against music director A R Rahman and Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal accusing them of disrespecting the national anthem.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice P Jothimani, dismissed the PIL filed by J Mohan Raj, general secretary of Jabamani Janata Party seeking to declare as illegal the sale or telecast of the "truncated and distorted" audio and video versions of the national anthem composed by Rahman coinciding with the 60th Independence Day.

Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel had sponsored the programme, which was telecast on several television channels.

Holding that there was no merit in the PIL, the judges said: "In our considered view, there was nothing to show that Rahman and Mittal have shown disrespect or violated rules."

The petitioner contended that the duo had "dishonoured and commercialised" the national anthem by releasing it to several TV channels in bits of 10 seconds to seven minutes while the national anthem code specified that it should be sung in 52 seconds.

Terming it "an insult to the national sentiment", the petitioner wanted it to be declared "illegal".

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